The Maritime Blueberry Ale War by the Drunk French Canadian

Oni Dèls, the Drunk French Canadian is back! He had his own bièrcation recently with visiting the Maritime provinces and wanted to write a bit about some of his favourite beers he had on vacation, blueberry beers!

Gather around kids (at heart.. because you know, beer), uncle Dèls is going to tell you a fabulous story.

Actually, it’s not really fabulous. I did a 4 day road trip in the Maritimes just to go buy beers I didn’t have access to in my neighbourhood. I ended up coming back home with 57 different beers, so I was glad my fridge was empty when i got back.

Aaaaanyway, now I will pit Moncton, New Brunswick's Pump House Blueberry Ale against Charlottetown, PEI Brewing's Gahan House Blueberry Ale.

First off, the main difference, aside bottle vs can, is that Pump House is a blueberry flavoured ale, while Gahan is a wheat ale brewed with blueberries. Of course both NB and PE are renowned for their blueberries, nice people.. and long bridges. The longest covered bridge is in NB and of course the confederation bridge that links PE to the mainland. But this is slightly off track.

Back to our beers, the colour/smell/taste description:

My little eye sees...

Pump House has a clear, crisp gold, with some nice bubbles. While Gahan has a thicker blonde orange/­amber and barely any bubbles.

My little nose smells...

The Pump House is simply.. only blueberry. It literally smells of candy and fruit, with no beer aroma to it, which is common in flavoured beer. On the other hand, Gahan’s a typical ale smell, with a subtle sweet aftersmell (is that a thing? I’m making it a thing.)

My little tongue tastes...

Well, nice of you to skip straight to the taste test. You didn’t miss much, besides the part about me wrestling a bear while wearing a kilt. So... the taste...

Pump House is very fruity, without being syrup­y or sugary. It doesn't have much of an alcohol taste, nor aftertaste, nor.. you know, taste of anything else but blueberry. It’s not a bad thing, but this is clearly a summer beer, made for hot, humid days. A beer you can easily drink 5 or 6 in a row without complaining. For the Gahan, with it being an unfiltered wheat beer, you have a nice cereal taste with a very subtle blueberry taste that is chase away by a nice aftertaste of alcohol.

So all this being said, I’d say while the two beers are very different style of blueberry beers, they both have their pros and cons. Maybe you should check them both out and decide for yourself, but I rate them both 4 out of 5 pints. Although in the “right now”, I prefer Gahan’s. I guess I prefer the all natural vibe to it.

So to settle this fight, I decided to pour both beers in a glass filled with actual blueberry, and this unholy alliance makes an awesome fruity cocktail akin to a bubble tea.. but with beer!

Anyway, I will have more story about my Maritimes trip, more comparisons of beer (that will most likely end up in a beer fusion again...), And obviously, some more Québec’s beer, if I can find some that Cody hasn’t talked about already... (Cody's note: Oh, I've already had both of the beers featured in this review!)

Cody Lobreau

Welcome to BeerCrank.ca! I'm a bit obsessed about craft beer, especially Canadian craft beer so I mainly review Canadian beer but I love to try beer from all over the world as well. My goal is to help influence the casual beer drinker to go out and expand their beer palate one way or another. Feel free to send some feedback!
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